Discover GH4STEM 100 Top Teacher: JAMES ATTA, Elmina #GH4STEM

At a very young age, James Atta was taken from his parents’ home to
live with his older brother. His older brother, who had to take care of
James, had a positive impact on his life in many ways, one which
included an interest in Science and pursuing it while in training
college.

James teaches STEM at Essaman JHS. His students are
about a hundred and twenty and he has sixteen years of teaching
experience to his credit. He plans to be an educator until retirement.
James has been a member of GAST since 2011 and has benefited immensely
from meetings and networking opportunities. He loves his job, especially
the fact that it deals with studying and learning about the
environment.

As a STEM educator, he finds the area of study
necessary for social development. In his opinion, with adequate
resources, the teaching of STEM can be less difficult for teachers and
more interesting for students. His students inspire him when they
understand what he has taught and apply what they have learnt.

James
heard about the JUNEOS Challenge through the Central Region Science
Coordinator. He was excited by the idea and introduced it to his
students who enjoyed every bit of the experience. One of the best
moments of his entire teaching experience was during the filming of his
students performing their experiments. He believes his students will do
very well when their results come out.

The JUNEOS Challenge has
helped James to use a more practical approach to his teaching. It has
also helped him explore ways of interacting with his students. He
believes the Challenge is of great use and benefit. It is also a good
way to introduce STEM to students and keep them interested in the
subjects.

Mr. Atta is of the opinion the JUNEOS Challenge should
be made available to more schools. He hopes that in their plans to
expand, the JUNEOS team are able to organize science lessons for
teachers to train them on using improvised tools for practical lessons.
He also hopes that the program becomes one of the best educational
programs on television.

The whole project has taught him not to limit the capabilities of his students, and he would love for other teachers to learn and experience this.